Abstract
BackgroundChinese medicine has been used to treat diabetes symptoms for thousands of years. Dioscoreae rhizome or Shanyao is a Chinese medicinal herb that is routinely used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus (DM).ObjectiveThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the evidence of the added benefits and safety of herbal formulae containing Shanyao in clinical studies and the possible mechanisms of Shanyao in the prevention and treatment of DM in experimental studies.MethodsWe searched nine databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that included Shanyao in the formulae in the treatment of type 2 DM. Furthermore, experimental studies on the prevention and treatment of DM by Shanyao in English- and Chinese-language databases were identified.ResultsFifty-three moderate quality RCTs with herbal formulae containing Shanyao were identified. Results from meta-analysis indicated that Shanyao alone or formulae containing Shanyao in addition to conventional treatments could benefit people with type 2 DM in lowering blood glucose, blood lipids and reducing insulin resistance. Moreover, adverse events were significantly lower in the CHM plus conventional group than those in the conventional group. Shanyao may exert the benefit through various mechanisms including inhibition of α-glucosidase and DPP-IV activity, increase of endogenous GLP-1 and immune regulating activities.ConclusionEvidence from this review suggested that there appeared to be added clinical benefits associated with the use of Shanyao for DM, whether as a food supplement or as a CHM combined with hypoglycemic agents with a good safety profile.
Highlights
Diabetes mellitus (DM) prevalence is growing at an alarming rate worldwide
Appropriate randomization and allocation concealment methods can reduce bias, but only 25.81% of the included studies described the randomization methods, and only 2.58% of the studies described allocation concealment
We present in the study available experimental evidence for Shanyao, the volume of studies is small compared to other commonly used herbs such as ginseng
Summary
Diabetes mellitus (DM) prevalence is growing at an alarming rate worldwide. According to the International Diabetes Federation, about 463 million adults worldwide suffer from DM (1). 95% of the diabetic population is T2DM, followed by type 1 diabetes mellitus, gestational diabetes mellitus, and specific types of diabetes due to other causes (2). Patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus and gestational diabetes mellitus are mainly treated with insulin supplementation and replacement therapy. Specific etiology and pathogenesis of other types of DM vary, and the treatment plan is not unified. This study focuses on patients with T2DM. Chinese medicine has been used to treat diabetes symptoms for thousands of years. Dioscoreae rhizome or Shanyao is a Chinese medicinal herb that is routinely used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus (DM)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
